The Hand
by alliterator
Summary: An unusually strong group of vampires show up at the Bronze. Takes place between the third and fourth seasons.


Title: The Hand  
Author: alliterator  
Summary: An unusually strong group of vampires show up at the Bronze. Takes place between the third and fourth seasons.  
Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Joss the Great and Powerful.  
Feedback: Yes, please.

Author's Note: Sorry about the lack of Xander. I wrote this fic and realized that he wasn't in it and found I had no place to squeeze him in. Just imagine he's on his road trip during this.

The music in the Bronze was deafening. The band onstage played a song that would surely have popped the eardrums of any adult who happened to be in the club at the time.

"So what happened?" Willow voice struggled to be heard.

"What do you mean?" Buffy cradled a cappuccino in her hand as she and Willow navigated through the crowd to find a suitable table.

"What do you mean what do I mean?" Willow held her iced mocha with two hands to avoid it being spilled. "I mean what happened with Angel?"

Buffy placed her cappuccino on an empty table and sighed. "Nothing," she said sitting down on a stool.

"What do you mean nothing?" Willow pulled a stool away from a nearby occupied table and sat down next to Buffy.

"I mean nothing," Buffy sipped her cappuccino. "Nothing happened. He didn't say anything, I didn't say anything, he just left."

"Just like that?" Willow's iced mocha's condensation was making a pool of water at the base of her drink.

"Just like that," Buffy said. "Just like he said he would."

The band's song had stopped and they decided to take a break before doing the next song, so the stage was empty. The Bronze, devoid of music at the moment, seemed unnaturally silent as Willow drank her iced mocha and Buffy sipped her cappuccino. 

After about five minutes of uneasy silence, the band was back onstage. "And now," the lead singer said into the microphone, "we'll perform a song called –" He was cut off when the microphone suddenly started screeching wildly. Buffy and Willow covered their ears and wondered what had happened.

Their curiosity was answered shortly. The air onstage rippled and a portal appeared about ten feet above the stage. Five figures dropped out of it. Five figures with twisted and distorted faces, with large, elongated teeth. Five vampires.

"Not good," Buffy said.

*****

The vampires were clad in strange clothing that seemed to be all leather straps and buckles with glints of armor here and there. They also seemed to have an excessive amount of tattoos, but Buffy didn't really have time to look since the lead vamp grabbed the singer of the band.

_Time to act, Buffy thought as she discarded her cappuccino and hurried to the stage. The singer was appropriately scared, but was trying to stay calm._

"So, w-what an entrance," the singer said, his whole body dwarfed by the lead vampire who still gripped his shoulders. "A-a-are you like a new band or something?"

"Hey, meatheads," Buffy stood right before the stage, her hand holding a stake behind her back. "The band may suck, but you don't have to suck on them. Why don't you try me first?" The lead vampire ignored her, his attention focused on the singer and, more specifically, his neck.

Buffy didn't like being ignored. She picked up a nearby stool and threw it at the lead vampire. This got his attention. Turning from the singer towards Buffy, the lead vamp growled and jumped off the stage, ready to snap Buffy's neck.

The roundhouse kick surprised him. So did the flurry of punches that followed. Buffy knew a good thing when she saw it: the vamps did not know she was the Slayer and she would take advantage of it.

Problem was, even though the lead vamp was surprised, he wasn't at all fazed. All her kicks and punches hadn't done anything to him. Buffy decided to just go for the finishing blow and lunged with the stake. Her wrist was intercepted by the lead vamp's hand, who crushed it with ease.

"Aaaah!!" Buffy pulled her hand back and kicked hard at the lead vamp, pushing him back, but doing little else. Her wrist was on fire with pain. Why was the vamp so strong? Buffy wasn't used to feeling this must pain and she cradled her damaged wrist.

The good news was that the vamps weren't paying any attention to the singer any more. The bad news was that they all focused in on Buffy. The vamps jumped off stage and went after her.

Buffy did what she almost never did: she ran. She justified her actions by saying that there were too many people in the Bronze that could get hurt, but she knew the real reason. She was scared.

Hopping over tables, she was almost to the exit when one of the vamps intercepted her. She grabbed a chair with her good hand and whipped it around, hitting the vamp squarely in the face. She sidestepped the fallen vampire and rushed through the exit.

In the area outside, she knew she would have to make her stand and she looked around, searching for a piece of wood. She saw a pile of broken wood next to the dumpster and she rushed over the find a suitable piece.

Unfortunately, the lead vamp decided at that moment to rush her from behind. Caught in a vice like grip, Buffy knew that struggling wouldn't help. She pushed her elbows out, breaking the vamp's grip around her and she spun around, elbowing the vamp in the face. The vamp did an uppercut, throwing her on top of the dumpster. She pulled herself up and kicked the vamp in the face while jumping down. She quickly grabbed a long piece of wood that was sticking up from the pile near the dumpster and turned around, ready the stake.

The four other vampires had joined the lead one and they growled menacingly at her, baring fangs. Although Buffy knew she was outnumbered, she kept calm. One of the vamps rushed her and she quickly kicked him in the face. When his hands went up to grab her leg, she quickly shoved the piece of wood into his chest. The vampire, expectantly, exploded into a shower of dust. But then something very unexpected happened.

The remains of the vampire stayed in the air, swirling and creating small little eddies. Suddenly, the dust divided into four streams and rushed into the four remaining vampires. The lead vampire smiled at Buffy. "Breaking one finger only makes the others stronger," he growled and then lunged at Buffy.

*****

Giles was sitting in his chair, sipping tea and wishing that the library was still around, when he heard the noise. At first he thought it was a cat scratching at his door, but when he listened closely, he heard breathing and realized someone was outside. He grabbed a crossbow and slowly unlatched his door, then swung it open. What he saw made him gasp.

Buffy was on his doorstep, her face bloody and her hand limp. "Giles," she moaned softly.

"Buffy," Giles gasped. He tried picking her up off the ground, but she was too heavy and almost slipped out of his grasp. Finally, he swung her arm around his shoulder and took her into his apartment. He laid her on his couch. "Buffy, what happened?" he said as she rested her head on a pillow.

"Bronze," she said weakly, "portal... vampires."

"Vampires? How many?"

"Five," her voice cracked into a thousand pieces as Giles brought over a wet towel to clean up the blood on her face.

"Only five?" His voice betrayed uncertainty. How could five vampires overtake Buffy?

"Four now," she gripped the towel in one hand and pressed it to her face. "Staked one. Others got stronger."

"You mean the others become enraged?" He didn't understand her statement.

"No," she pulled the towel from her face and looked at him, "they got stronger. The leader said something about when a finger breaks the others get stronger."

"A finger?" Giles rose from Buffy's side. "I've never heard of something like this happening. You say they came out from a portal at the Bronze?"

"Yes," Buffy said nursing her wrist, "and they were stronger than normal vamps even before I killed one."

"Are you strong enough to go back there?" He looked at her damaged wrist.

She swallowed, then shook her head no. "My wrist is useless."

"I'll bandage you up," Giles said, "then I'll investigate alone."

"No," Buffy said.

"Buffy, you can't go yourself and we can't let these vampires roam the streets."

Buffy looked up at Giles' determined face. "Be careful," she said.

*****

The Bronze was a mess. It seems that while following Buffy, the vampires had thrown over almost every table. Giles inspected the stage, where Buffy had said the portal had opened. Giles slung the duffle bag which carried his weapons over his shoulder. When looking around, he saw that most of the people had left and the Bronze was empty except for a few traumatized people who were still wondering what had happened. 

"Giles," a voice called his name. Giles looked towards the entrance were he saw that Oz had just came in.

"Oz, what are you doing here?"

"Looking for Willow. She and Buffy were supposed to be here at the Bronze." Oz glanced around looking at the carnage.

"I'm afraid I haven't seen Willow. She must have left afterwards."

"After what?" Giles told him the entire story. He seemed taken aback and there was a hint of worry on his face. "And you're sure the vampires didn't come back in here?"  
  


"Pretty sure," Giles said. "Buffy told me that they chased her until she lost them. Unless they would come back for some reason. Why?"  
  


"Willow was supposed to call me," Oz's concern became more apparent.

"I'm sure she just forgot with all the excitement," Giles reassured him.

Oz looked up above the stage. "Where did the vampires come from?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Giles said. He opened his duffel bag and ruffled through it, finally bringing out his dog-eared copy of _Energy Portals and Ley Lines. After studying the stage for a minute with the book held before him, he quickly threw the book back into the duffel bag and withdrew chalk. On the stage, Giles drew a complex octogram. "Many Watchers feel that pentagrams are best for locater spells, but I feel octograms do the job in less time," he said to no one in particular. Finally he stepped back._

"What is the locater spell supposed to do?" Oz asked.

"It's supposed to find the place where the portal originates from," Giles picked up the book again, opened it to one of the pages and read aloud "Portaliuos transpratesous negratrium." He paused for a minute, then brought out a handful of sand from his pocket. "Dusturious hygretia porgretium," he said while sprinkling the sand over the octogram. Suddenly, the octogram lit up in a strange blue fire. "How strange," Giles said.

"What?"

"It won't show me where it comes from, only where it leads to," Giles told him, "but that's not the strange part. The place where it leads is not here."

"Not the Bronze? Then how did the vampires get here?"

"They must have opened the portal early for some reason."

"So where was the portal supposed to lead?"

Giles turned to Oz. "We're going to find out." Then he took a brick cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to Oz. "Here, when we get there, call Buffy and tell her where we are."

"Little down on the times, aren't you Giles?" Oz said as he hefted the brick phone.

"You should see my microwave."

*****

Perspiration trickled down Willow's face as she looked at her kidnappers. One vampire held her arms as he pushed her forward. "Almost there, meat," he said with a growl.

_Why hadn't Buffy come back? Willow thought frantically. __She could have stopped them. Why did they come back? Why do they want me? Why... Questions flooded Willow's mind and she was disappointed at the lack of answers._

"Here," the lead vampire stopped. Willow looked around and saw they were in the place where one of Sunnydale's shoe stores had been. Last year the city had torn it down to add a parking lot, but because of some zoning laws they never finished it. Everything was covered in dirt and grime.

The vampire that was holding her suddenly pushed her to the ground. "Hey," Willow said, rubbing the spot where her shoulder had hit the soil. "Why..."

"Why did we bring you here?" The lead vampire finished her sentence. "Simple. This is the spot where the Beast shall come forth and bring about a holy day. We came here to witness it."

Willow looked at the vampire nervously. "And this has to do with me how?"

"We sensed your power while coming here and decided you would make a good offering for the Beast. Your magicks are strong and run deep and thus your sacrifice will be great."

"Um, that's great really," Willow said meekly, "but Sunnydale's full of witches and I'm sure you can find a substitute to, um, eat."

The vampire grinned at her, barely his sharp fangs. "You don't understand. We're not going to eat you."

"You're not?"

"No. We're going to worship and show our adoration and devotion to the Beast by ripping out your heart and giving it to her when her holy day is upon us."

*****

"Willow!" Oz nearly screamed out her name in surprise, only stopped by Giles's hand.

"It's okay," Giles said while trying to calm Oz down. "They haven't done anything to her yet, we still have a chance to save her."

"How?" Oz asked. "You said these vamps aren't ordinary, that they beat up Buffy, so how can _we beat them?"_

"Ingenuity," Giles said as he picked up his bag, "and luck. Did you get through to Buffy?"

"No," Oz shook his head. "Either she's not there or she can't get the phone. Both ways, I don't see how we can win."

"We'll save Willow," Giles said. "You must believe that."

Oz looked at him. "Okay. What do we do first?"

*****

Willow was mentally going through all the new spells she learned during the summer. Obviously floating a pencil wouldn't do the trick with these vamps and Willow stayed calm by trying to find a spell that would.

"Yours will be a glorious sacrifice in the name of the Beast," the lead vamp said to her as he raised his hands and prepared to tear open her chest.

"Hey," a voice came from behind the vamps, "I believe that's my girlfriend you're about to slaughter."

Willow looked behind the vamps. "Oz!" she yelled as she saw him and Giles, each toting a crossbow and wearing an excess of crosses.

All four vamps turned to Giles and Oz and growled. Oz, not waiting for them to attack, fired a crossbow bolt on the nearest one's heart and saw the vamp snatch it from the air and snap it easily.

"Something tells me this is not going to be easy," Oz whispered to Giles.

The vampires snarled once again and then charged. Giles fired his crossbow as Oz reloaded his. Giles's bolt actually hit one of the vamps, although only in the shoulder. A vamp jumped onto Oz as he finished reloading and Oz shot the bolt into the vamp's stomach, then hit the vamp in the face with the blunt end of the crossbow. It barely fazed him.

Meanwhile, two vampires, one with an arrow bolt in his shoulder, charged Giles. After shooting two more arrows at them, he discarded the crossbow and reached back into his duffel bag. The first vamp that reached him was surprised by the ax blade that cut off his head. The resulting dust whirled around and then splint off, entering the three remaining vamps.

The vamp with a bolt in his stomach knocked the crossbow out of Oz's hand, so Oz resorted to shoving a plain old cross in between his eyes. The vamp reeled, giving Oz enough time to open the holy water bottle in his back pocket and splash it in the vamps face. The vamp staggered backward, trying to wipe the holy water out and that was when Oz picked back up his crossbow and shot his last bolt into him. The remaining dust splintered and entered the remaining two vamps.

Giles was fighting for his life with the other vamp. He had lost the ax and was now trying to stake the vamp with an ordinary piece of wood. The vamp overcame him and managed to crush the stake into splinters. Suddenly, Giles heard Willow shout "**Disjoin."**** The vamp abruptly exploded and turned to dust. Giles coughed at all the vamp dust until it stirred and entered the surviving vampire.**

Willow stood triumphant. She had remembered the disunity spell and it had worked in killing the vampire and she had saved Giles! All of a sudden, a hand gripped her by the neck and through her to the ground hard. As she looked up, she marveled at the size the lead vamp was now. Muscles rippled through his body and everything about him seemed larger, including claws and teeth.

"Nothing can defeat us!" the vampire shouted to them. "If you kill us, we only get stronger! For we are invincible, we are immortal, we are the Hand of Gl –" Unexpectedly, he stopped and looked down at the large, wooden pole that stuck about half a foot out of his chest and then he exploded into dust. Buffy stood behind him grasping the pole with her one good hand.

"If he's the hand," Buffy coughed, "then that's the middle finger." She dropped the pole and helped Willow up. "I got your message," Buffy said to Giles, "I was feeling better, so I decided to try and help you."

"Thank you," Giles said, trying to wipe his glasses of all the dirt they had accumulated in the battle. "You're help was invaluable."

"Hey, you guys weren't so bad. You took out three of them."

Oz hugged Willow and then said "How about we go the Bronze now?"

"And this time without any vampire portals."

"I could use a nice hot cup of tea."

"Hey, maybe Giles can do his flaming octagon trick again."

"Flaming octagon? What have I been missing?"

"Oh, not much."

_Finis_


End file.
